With An Unclean Slate
by Unfortunately Unknown
Summary: Sixteen year old Roy Mustang is too fascinated with Edward Elric for his own good. Ed is trying to live a normal life in a time that isn't his own. And the small changes that have been made are growing......
1. The Market

_Author's Note: So, this is my newest idea. I'd really like to know if it's any good, if it's worth continuing. Please tell me._

* * *

The downtown market of Central was a busy and often dirty place. The market was located on a cobbled street lined with bars and filled with dust and the scent of smoke. It was known for its interesting odds and ends, its large collection of used clothing, but most of all for its cheap but editable food. Stall owners came in early on Sunday to set up before the customers showed up. The market could quickly be filled with a number of different kinds of people and occasionally animals, giving it a strange sort of beauty.

Roy Mustang spared no attention to the beauty of the market as he shoved past an old woman out for her weekly shopping, and half ran into the street. He was too late, he knew he was too late, but he pushed forward regardless. If he could only catch a glimpse of the man, that would be enough.

He nearly missed the man in question, but luckily bright golden hair was difficult to miss.

Roy stopped in the middle of the street to stare, ignoring the disgruntled people who had to move around him. He felt absurdly grateful that the man had stopped to buy –what was it- cherries. Actually, Roy thought, studying the scene a bit closer, buy wasn't the right word. The man, Ed (whose name had taken hours of chattering with stall owners to figure out), seemed to be in an argument with the brown haired stall owner about whether her cherries were safe to eat.

Roy took his eyes off Ed for a few seconds to look at the cherries. They looked safe to eat to him, red and round with no strange spots on them, but then he had rarely seen cherries and never eaten them.

Cherries were far less interesting than Ed, though, and Roy's eyes went back to him quickly. With golden eyes, long golden hair, and skin tainted slightly gold, Ed looked exotic and was endlessly fascinating to Roy because of it. He had promised himself that he was going to actually talk to Ed the next time he saw him, but now that he saw Ed again he felt far too nervous to do so. There was a careless confidence that surrounded Ed and made Roy feel like a child. _The only reason I'm not going to talk to him right now is because he's obviously busy,_ Roy thought, knowing it was an excuse and hating it.

He was Roy Mustang. He did not become nervous, and he did not stare. Except that he did, now, and couldn't stop.

"Fine then!" Ed shouted, loud enough that Roy could hear him clearly even half a street away. He turned away from the owner of the stall, his hand gripped tightly around the small basket he carried his food in.

If Roy hadn't been watching Ed so closely he would have completely missed the small movement of Ed's foot that made the tray of cherries fall to the ground. However, even if Roy hadn't been watching closely he wouldn't have missed the bright smile that lit Ed's face afterwards.

"You little brat!" the stall owner screamed as Ed began to walk away. "I – get back here!"

The people around the cherry stall responded to the situation by moving away, and Roy found himself crushed in the suddenly too crowded street. He tried to move to where he thought Ed would go next, but it moving against the flow was hopeless so Roy reluctantly went along with it. Despite thinking only a few minutes before that he wouldn't even get to see Ed, Roy wasn't pleased. _If I could have had just a few minutes more,_ Roy decided, _then it would have been okay. _

With a heavy sigh Roy prepared to go back home and talk to his mother. She had been the one who had set him the task of cleaning the house, making him late for the market, and Roy had to convince her to let him do his chores on a day other than Sunday. He also had to avoid mentioning Ed because he knew his mom would have no sympathy, and probably scathingly call it a teenage crush. It was, Roy knew that, but he wasn't going to _admit_ it.

Roy frowned and began thinking of reasons why he didn't want to work on Sunday that had nothing to do with stunningly attractive young men at the market. Sometimes Roy was quite certain he hated being sixteen.


	2. The Monotony

_Author's Note: Thank you for all the encouraging reviews. This story will live on because of you. On a different note, please excuse any minor errors you find as I have not gotten a beta yet. _

* * *

Ed kicked the door to his apartment despite having a free hand to open it with. The door opened, slammed against the wall and came back to shut itself again. If Ed's glare had been aimed at a person they would have been fleeing for their life. However, instead of transmuting the door into dust as he wanted to, Ed simply muttered curse words under his breath as he used his free hand to open the door again.

He stomped into his living room, not bothering to shut the door behind him.

The room itself was just like every other living room in an old, cheap, and rundown apartment; small, painted a white-that-had-turned-to-icky-yellow and stained with things best left unsaid. The only signs that anyone lived in the room were the small cot in the corner of it (but not actually touching the wall) and the battered brown suitcase that rested beside it.

The cot was quickly flopped upon by Ed, and its springs gave a protesting groan. The only reason it didn't break was because Ed had transmuted it purposely to hold his weight.

Ed stared at the ceiling, thinking, letting his grocery basket fall to the floor.

He was happy.

Al was safe.

He was happy.

His mother's sickness had been cured by a 'passing doctor'.

He was happy.

Al, his little brother, had both of his parents, and was happy.

He was happy.

He _was_ happy.

He was bored.

Ed sighed and turned over, burying his face in the pillow. He was bored, that was the problem. Half of his life all he'd wanted was for his mother and Al to be alive, safe and happy. And when he had made sure that happened, just a few months after he'd gotten into the past, he'd been happy. But now……

His job was pure manual labour, helping out on the docks. It paid decently enough, and he managed to stay in shape mostly because of it, but there was nothing for his mind to do. Ever since he had been a child he had an alchemy problem working somewhere in his head, and it left an empty hole now that it wasn't there.

It wasn't that he had lost his skill at alchemy. Ed could still figure out an array in an instant, create one in only a second longer, and copy down every array he'd seen with perfect accuracy. It was just that there was nothing to do with it. He couldn't tell it to Al, he couldn't use it to help anyone, and he couldn't even put it into research papers because he didn't dare get close enough to another alchemist that they'd vouch for his ideas.

Alchemy had no real point for him anymore, therefore it left his mind except for when he called it back up. There was nothing else to think about though, only his life, himself. Maybe Ed could have been satisfied with the feeling of a good day's work if he hadn't saved villages and fought serial killers, but he doubted it.

Ed didn't want his old life back, no matter how bored he was. If being bored was the price for safety and his family's happiness, it was a relatively small one to pay and Ed felt no resentment about it.

Ed pushed himself up off of the bed slightly and looked to the basket of food on the floor. He groaned slightly at the thought of cooking and found himself wishing for something that would break this monotony.

* * *

Ed looked down at the young man he had knocked over and cursed his thoughts of less monotony earlier in the week. He could deal with monotony. He _liked_ monotony. It was far better than the unsettling image of the Colonel as a teenager.

Ed frowned faintly. Mustang could be counted on to screw with his life, even when he wasn't actively trying to.

"I'm really very sorry." Mustang said, cutting into his thoughts.

Ed opened his mouth to snap 'Watch where you're going, you bastard' before his mind caught up with the words that were spoken.

Ed blinked and stared at Mustang, who was looking vaguely uncomfortable, and found a second shock in the fact of _seeing the Colonel look uncomfortable._ As if he couldn't hide it.

"You're……sorry." Ed said, his voice quiet and rough with shock.

"Yes. I wasn't looking where I was going." Mustang said as he stood up, sounding genuinely apologetic about it.

"You…" Ed started, then shock his head. The Colonel would never admit to doing something wrong. Ed would almost have believed that they were two different people except for the fact that they could have been identical twins.

"Is there something wrong?" Mustang, cutting into his thoughts again.

Ed realized that he still hadn't said anything coherent, and felt irritated at himself for it. He had seen stranger things than a nice, polite Colonel. He couldn't _remember_ any, but that didn't matter.

"No. I'm fine." Ed said. There wasn't much else he could say. 'You're going to be such a bastard in the future' wasn't something he should say, though it was about all he could think.

"That's good." Mustang said, rubbing an elbow he had landed on. Ed abruptly realized that he had probably gotten hurt from falling down and felt slightly guilty. After all, he wasn't a bastard yet.

"Hey, sorry. Wasn't watching where I was going either." Ed offered as a sacrifice to his guilt, which seemed vaguely satisfied and drew back.

Mustang smiled.

Ed wanted to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Mustang smirked, he didn't smile. It was one of those Things Which Just Didn't Happen, like Al not liking a cat or Hawkeye being lazy. Though, Ed had to admit, he actually looked nice when he was smiling.

"It's fine. I haven't made you late for anything, have I?" Mustang asked, and Ed felt vaguely pleased to see that at least he could talk sort of like the older Mustang because otherwise it was just too weird.

"Yeah. Just work though, doesn't matter." Ed said honestly.

Mustang shifted his weight as though he was nervous, then looked Ed in the eyes and said, "Let me make it up to you. Dinner?"

Staring into eyes that were such a dark blue they were almost black, Ed felt the familiar flare of curiosity. There was something about those eyes that made him want to know the person behind them. It was probably, Ed knew, because they looked like they held so many secrets. Ed had always wanted to know everything.

It took him a few seconds to recognize and think through Mustang's words.

"You mean, at your house?" Ed asked, wondering just what was going on. Was Mustang trying to poison him? It seemed ridiculous, but then he wouldn't put anything past him and it would explain the 'being nice' thing……

"No. At Marcy's." Mustang said, sliding a hand into his pocket and looking away from him.

Ed assumed that Marcy's was some sort of restaurant. There were a thousand questions rolling around in his mind, but what came out was, "When?"

"Whenever you're free." Mustang said, now looking at him again.

Black and navy, secrets and the Colonel as a _teenager_, Ed wasn't sure when the world had gone crazy but he must have not have been looking.

"Get off work at six." Ed found himself saying, hoping that if he said something those eyes would just look away. This was creepy and weird and he didn't want any part of it but it would be humiliating if he was staring. He better not have been staring.

"Then I'll meet you here at seven." Mustang said, and Ed wanted to hit him for sounding so casual when he was freaking out. He waited for Mustang to leave, but he didn't and Ed finally understood he was waiting for confirmation of his plan. It was just like the Colonel waiting for him to confirm that Ed had heard his orders, and the times seemed to blur together.

"Yeah." Ed said.

"Good." The Colonel said, and nodded to him and walked away.

Ed stood on the pathway, frozen for a few seconds before remembering he was late to work, cursing and beginning to run.

* * *

Ed stood at the corner he had knocked Mustang down at. It was six fifty-five, and the sky had turned to the musky blue colour that always made Ed think of military uniforms. The corner's lamp shone enough light onto Ed to make his slouched profile and brown jacket clearly visible.

_Maybe it's a joke,_ Ed thought as he looked at the sky, _invite me to dinner and leave me waiting here for a while. _

Ed sighed and pulled his coat tighter around him. While autumn was just beginning, having automail meant he got cold easier than most people would. Now that he had adjusted to the shock of seeing the Colonel again, he could recognize that he had been manipulated into making his decision about dinner. Mustang had probably bumped into him on purpose; it was the sort of thing he'd do. He just couldn't figure out _why_ Mustang would want to have dinner with him.

"Am I late?" asked a slightly amused voice from beside him.

Ed spun around before he thought, his body moving into a position to counter the threat. The threat which was very definitely smirking at him.

"You…don't do that." Ed grumbled, feeling annoyed to be caught off guard while thinking for about the third time by the same person.

"Sorry." Mustang offered, his smirk widening to become a grin. "I couldn't resist."

"Resist." Ed said darkly. "Or next time I won't bother not hitting you."

Mustang laughed, clear and loud.

Ed stared, trying to connect the young happy teenager to the older smug man that he knew. The Colonel didn't laugh, not without a heavy edge of bitterness to it.

"We should get going." Mustang said after a few moments. His cheeks were slightly pink, but Ed couldn't figure out why. Was he embarrassed to be laughing with an almost complete stranger? If so, why had he wanted to have dinner with said almost complete stranger?

"Yeah." Ed said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Which way?"

"Follow me." Mustang said, beginning to walk forward just enough to show what direction he was going in.

Ed shrugged and began to walk, easily keeping up with the dark haired young man to his left and slightly in front of him. He didn't really have anything to say, and Mustang didn't seem to have anything to say either, though he glanced over at Ed about once every five seconds as though afraid he'd disappear. Ed looked back, still not used to the younger version of the man he had known.

The dim light lent shadows to Mustang's face. It made his skin look a light gray and his hair and eyes even darker. There weren't many differences between him and his older self that Ed could find. His hair was a little longer, he was wearing different clothes (a white buttoned shirt over a pair of blue pants), and Ed would say he had less wrinkles but Ed didn't remember him having any wrinkles. Also, Ed noted with a wide internal smirk, he was only about an inch taller than Ed himself.

"You're staring at me." Mustang said, and his voice was so bland that Ed knew he was hiding some emotion.

"Equivalent exchange. You were looking at me." Ed said casually, in case Mustang decided he was angry about it.

Mustang didn't respond, but turned his head to look away from Ed. The half of his face that Ed could see looked almost red, and Ed wondered if it was because he was really angry or if it was just a trick of the light.

"I haven't introduced myself, have I?" Mustang said after a few moments in which Ed debated just knocking him out and leaving him in a hotel because it would be easier than this. "My name's Roy Mustang. Roy."

"Right, Roy." Ed said, trying the name out. It didn't sound as strange in his voice as he thought it would. "I'm Ed."

"Pleasure to meet you." Musta- Roy said, sounding for all the world like it _was_ a pleasure to meet him.

Ed found his lips quirking up in a smile as he replied.

"Yeah. Nice to meet you too."

He was surprised to find that he meant it.


	3. Marcy's

_Author's Note: Next chapter. Hopefully no major errors. I wonder, should I put RoyxEd in the summary? It seems obvious, but....._

* * *

Roy found himself wishing that he had grabbed a jacket. While the night wasn't particularly cold, it was a little chilly and he wouldn't have minded the extra warmth. He also wished that Ed hadn't noticed his glances, which he had thought were subtle, so that he could continue them. Ed looked _good_ in lamplight. Most of all, Roy wished that he had planned asking Ed out to dinner. He had given it some vague thought, true, but only enough to decide that Marcy's would be a good place to take him before his mind slid to the idea of being allowed to touch Ed, and of what golden skin would taste like.

When Ed had knocked him over, Roy had simply been trying to get a glance of him before he left for work. After he was knocked over, he intended to apologize to Ed and move on. Somehow, between all of Ed's slight annoyance and confused looks, he had blurted out an invitation to dinner. Roy suspected that it was because he was too distracted to think by Ed talking to him, looking at him, and the way Ed had of tipping his head slightly to one side when he was confused that made Roy want to press his mouth to the side of Ed's neck.

The silence between them didn't feel awkward, exactly, but Roy couldn't think of a way to break it. Ed seemed so utterly careless, as though there was nothing in the world that could touch him. Roy felt like if he talked to Ed, Ed would listen to him with an amused tolerance or not notice he was talking until he had done so for five minutes.

As they approached the warmly lit cafe known as Marcy's Roy decided that he had to talk to Ed, regardless of whether the older man thought he was an idiot or not. He would talk to Ed……as soon as they entered Marcy's.

As they entered Marcy's Roy began to relax. The scent of coffee and the walls painted a rich dark brown had a calming effect. Roy liked Marcy's. It always had good food that wasn't over priced, and there were always enough people inside to make the place sound lively but never so many that it became annoying. For all of those reasons it was one of Roy's favorite places for a first date.

At his side, Ed was looking around the cafe, seemingly curious.

"Where do you want to sit?" Roy asked, feeling that at least that question was safe.

"I dunno." Ed said, shrugged, and turned to look at Roy. "Over there?"

Roy was too busy thinking about not thinking about the way Ed's body moved when he shrugged to notice where Ed waved his hands to, but nodded anyway.

Ed didn't seem to need much more than that, walking over to the table he had chosen and flopping upon its chair in a boneless heap. Roy couldn't keep a smile from curving his lips at the sight, though he sat in his chair with far more grace.

The waitress, who Roy knew was named Faith from her nametag and a repeated visits, hurried over.

"What would you like tonight?" she asked with an almost blinding white smile. The light green uniform that Marcy's employees wore was stunning with her dark green eyes and rich black hair. Roy used her as a judge for his male dates; if they ignored her, they were most definitely not into women.

He watched Ed carefully as Ed turned his attention to Faith and blinked twice, as though surprised to see her there.

"I'll have whatever food's cheapest, some water." Ed said, and he didn't leave his eyes on her for half a second before turning to Roy and saying, "Three servings. Long as that's okay."

Roy wanted to grin, but he smothered it and instead quickly said that it was fine before ordering his own food (coffee, and a bowl of spiced soup).

When Faith left Ed shifted in his chair, managing to look even more sprawled than he had before she came, and Roy abruptly realized that he had decided to talk to Ed while inside Marcy's.

He took a breath and asked, "How old are you?"

Roy knew it was a stupid question as soon as it was out of his mouth, and the scathing look that Ed sent him confirmed it. Roy wanted to apologize, but what could he say, 'Sorry, I'm an idiot around you because I can't think about anything other than kissing you?' So Roy stayed quiet, hoping Ed wouldn't leave and knowing it was a possibility.

"'m nineteen." Ed said, and Roy could feel the relief pour through his body. He felt like he was on his first date again, nervous and not sure what to expect.

"You have an interesting accent. Where does it come from?" Roy asked, wondering how long it would be until the food showed up and he could give his mind time to come up with better questions.

"Just, 'round." Ed said, moving uncomfortably. "Country, near East City."

Roy frowned internally, surprised that Ed was so reluctant to talk about it. Had someone mocked him for his accent? Normally people loved to talk about where they grew up.

Roy was rescued from having to reply to that by the arrival of the food. Ed was given three bowls of fried rice, and Roy relaxed a bit. It would take Ed some time to finish his food, time Roy could use to plan his next question.

Of course, that was before Roy saw Ed eat. Ed ate as though the food could grow legs and run away within seconds, his hand almost a blur between bowl and mouth. Despite this, Roy noticed that his manners (don't chew with your mouth open, keep your elbows off the table) seemed to be perfect. Roy was aware that he probably looked completely shocked, and tried to drag his face back to normal before Ed finished his food and noticed.

Judging by the smirk Ed gave him, he didn't succeed.

"You offered to feed me." Ed pointed out smugly as he picked up his glass of water and took a gulp of it. "Can't take it back now."

"I don't want to take it back." Roy said quickly, a vision of Ed leaving in his mind. "I'm just……amazed."

"Yeah?" Ed said, leaning back from the table and studying Roy with skeptical golden eyes.

"Yes. I've never seen anyone eat that much that fast." Roy said honestly. He still had to look at the empty bowls to remind himself that there was no more rice left. "I'm a little worried though, since I can't eat that quickly."

"So?" Ed asked.

"It's considered polite to talk while dining with someone." Roy replied because Ed didn't seem like the kind of person who would know that. Or, Roy realized after he said it, to care about that.

"Talk to me after then. I can wait." Ed said.

Roy winced slightly at the blow to his ego. It was easy to see that Ed genuinely didn't care much about talking to him and was only going along with it because he had nothing better to do. Roy wasn't certain how he could change that, and began to eat his soup as a distraction.

The spicy flavour of Roy's soup normally cleared his mind, but this time he had to finish half of his coffee as well before he could think of something good to say. Roy blamed Ed's faraway look that made his face so wistful Roy's heart ached.

"Ed." Roy said, and watched as golden eyes snapped back to reality. "Earlier, you said something about equivalent exchange. I've only ever heard alchemists use that phrase."

Ed shrugged again, but he didn't seem as uncomfortable as before.

"Yeah, well. Guess I'm a alchemist." He said slowly.

"Do you have any interest in fire alchemy?" Roy asked, because if he was going to talk alchemy he preferred to talk about the alchemy he knew best. At least in that he couldn't be considered much of an idiot.

"I know a bit." Ed said, and it seemed like that was all he was going to say for a few moments before he added, "Wouldn't mind knowing more."

"Here." Roy said, pulling out the charcoal pencil he always kept in his pocket, scribbling an array onto a napkin and passing it to Ed.

Ed leaned forward to look at it, studied it for a few seconds and then grinned.

"Basic fire alchemy array, makes a spark. Jayon's Elemental Arrays covers it." Ed said, confidence in every word. His eyes gleamed with a sharp intelligence as he snatched the charcoal out of Roy's hand, brushing Roy's fingers with his gloved hand as he did so.

Roy smiled. He couldn't say if it was because he had finally found something that Ed was interested in, or because Ed had stolen his pencil without apparently thinking about, or because he had met someone other than his teacher he could talk to fire alchemy about.

The napkin was shoved back at him after a few minutes of frantic scribbling, and Roy studied it, his eyes becoming wider with each second. This wasn't a basic knowledge of fire alchemy, or even an intermediate knowledge of it. Edward Elric seemed to know almost as much about fire alchemy as he himself did, perhaps more, judging from the altered array. Roy traced a line with his finger and then looked up and fixed Ed with a sharp stare.

"Why are you doing manual labour?" Roy said, trying to put all of his confusion into one sentence. Someone as brilliant with alchemy as Ed was could easily make a living by being a regular alchemist, even in a city as large as Central.

"Look." Ed said with a sigh, moving forward to rest his elbows on the table. "It's not like I have a choice."

"What do you mean?" Roy asked.

"Just drop it, okay." Ed said, eyes dark and voice low. "I shouldn't have told you anyway."

"Then why did you?" Roy asked. As far as Roy could see there was absolutely no reason for Ed to even speak to him, never mind showing him how good he was at alchemy.

"I wanted…" Ed said, and made a few frustrated hand gestures before continuing. "It's been a while since I've talked about alchemy."

Roy translated that as 'I missed alchemy', which Roy could understand. His alchemy teacher had once gone on a trip and in the absence of anyone he knew that understood alchemy Roy had resorted to reading as many alchemy books as he could find.

"Why did you add this?" Roy asked, showing what he meant with a tap of his finger on the napkin.

Ed brightened up immediately, throwing Roy a bright smile before beginning to explain.

* * *

The waitress stopped by to mention that Marcy's was closing in fifteen minutes. Roy absorbed this knowledge with some shock. He had been caught up in his and Ed's discussion of alchemy, and hadn't noticed the time much at all, too busy debating what array was best for smothering fire and relating a few stories of mistakes he had made.

And of course, he had been too caught up in Ed. Ed, who seemed to mostly be lazily watching the world, came alive at the mention of alchemy. His eyes flashed a brilliant gold, his voice often became quite loud, and his hands were widely gesturing every time they weren't writing. Ed's mind was quick to spot any error in Roy's theories, and his own theories were flawless. Within half an hour of their conversation Roy was completely certain that Ed was far better at alchemy than he was. This didn't make him any less enthusiastic to talk to Roy about alchemy, which surprised but pleased Roy.

"Didn't realize it was so late." Ed said, echoing Roy's own thoughts.

"Neither did I." Roy replied as he stood up. "I should get home."

Ed nodded and finished up the last of his water before following Roy to the door of the cafe and outside.

"So. Thanks. For dinner. And talking to me about alchemy and stuff." Ed said haltingly beside him, looking as though he almost wanted to run away from Roy instead of thanking him.

Roy wasn't about to let him get away so easily.

"I'll walk home with you." Roy said firmly, half expecting Ed to argue with him. He wasn't sure what he would do if Ed did.

Instead Ed chuckled, a soft low sound that ran through Roy's body.

"Yeah, yeah. Should have known." Ed said, but before Roy could ask what he should have known he took a few steps forward, and said, "Thought you were going to walk home with me."

Roy followed without another word.


	4. The Military

_Author's Note: Well, here we have plot. Apologies to anyone who thought this was just a cute love story. Also, should I put the rating up to Mature because of the curse words in this chapter? I knew them by the age of ten, so I feel they're Teen, but I don't want my story to be deleted._

* * *

Ed could barely hear Mustang's footsteps behind him. They made only the softest sound, like a leaf being blown over pavement. Ed supposed that was why Mustang had been able to creep up on him so easily. Ed wondered why Roy's footsteps were so light, since it obviously wasn't because he had sensitive hearing, or he would have questioned why Ed's own footsteps were uneven sounding.

"Something bothering you?" Mustang asked, and Ed realized that he was frowning and blanked his face. Ed didn't quite trust the young Colonel enough to let him see what he was thinking.

"Nah." Ed said, then impulsively changed his mind. "You move quietly. Can't figure out why."

What could Mustang figure out from that anyway?

"Natural grace." Mustang said smugly, and Ed almost laughed at hearing that tone in that voice again. It wasn't something he would have done a week ago, but Ed felt far more optimistic than he did a week ago. He knew that his cheerfulness was a front, and that it only existed because he had finally been entertained for a few moments. Roy wasn't a genius, but he was intelligent, and he knew fire alchemy very well. Ed actually had to think when talking to him about it and that made him giddy in a way that brightened his view of the entire world.

Seeing the world as brighter didn't help with Ed's newest problem, which he had decided to call 'What the hell is with Mustang?'. Ed could understand that maybe the Colonel wasn't so much of a bastard as a teenager, though it made him wonder what had changed the almost nice teenager into the bastard he knew. What Ed didn't understand was the weirdness of Roy. He invited some stranger out to dinner for no apparent reason (there was the 'to make up for being late' thing, but Ed wasn't an idiot and knew that no one but his little brother was actually _that_ polite), and the trying to talk to Ed thing, and even the not flirting with the waitress thing. Ed wasn't certain the last was actually an example of Mustang being weird, since he had only heard that the older Mustang flirted with every pretty girl, and because Ed wasn't particularly good at picking out pretty girls so he didn't know if the waitress was one. But it was clear that Mustang was being weird. Ed just couldn't figure out why.

Ed eyed Roy, whose face was perfectly calm, and wondered if he should just ask Mustang. Bluntness generally worked for him.

As Ed was turning the idea over in his mind they turned a corner to see his apartment building and all thoughts of Roy's weirdness flew out of Ed's mind.

His light was on. Not the one in the living room, bathroom, or kitchen, but the one below his bathroom window. It was a small pinprick of red light, but Ed automatically checked for it every time he went back to his apartment because it would warn him if anyone was inside. It had been complicated to make the array that activated it (an array that only noticed human energy and did nothing more than release a small charge of energy) and to get a mechanic to make the device that was activated, but in the end it had been completely worth it for the amount of times it had saved him from being caught.

"Is something wrong?" asked Roy's softly concerned voice, the tone suiting him about as well as an innocent look would. Ed hated him in that moment, hated how fake he sounded. He glared at Mustang, aware that it probably wouldn't be obvious in the darkness but not caring.

"Go the hell away." Ed snarled, feeling trapped between the people in his apartment who he didn't trust and the younger Colonel who he didn't trust. The idea that Mustang had taken him out to dinner so that they could get inside was spinning in his head. Ed knew that it wasn't true because if it was they would have attacked him long before he got to his apartment but that didn't stop his mind from wanting to believe it. It made so much more sense that the Colonel would be the enemy, even if he wasn't a Colonel yet. After all, Ed was dealing with the military.

"Ed, what……" Mustang said, trailing off at the end as though he didn't know what to say.

"Just go home." Ed said, already regretting snapping at him. Ed doubted that would make Roy leave any faster than it would make the Colonel leave; they both had that annoying habit of wanting to know anything they shouldn't or didn't need to.

"I want to know why you are so upset." Roy said firmly, reaching out to grasp Ed's right arm.

Ed froze, but Roy didn't say anything more. Ed wondered if his jacket was the reason that Roy didn't seem to notice he was holding automail and not a flesh and blood arm. Ed knew that if Roy had felt the automail he'd want to know what it was; while it was known of, very few people had automail since it was so expensive. Ed didn't like the idea of trying to explain how he could afford it.

"You don't." Ed said, meeting Roy's dark eyes and twisting his arm out of Roy's grip. "You don't want to know anything about this, alright?"

"I think I do." Roy replied, his voice laced with a subtle arrogance.

"No you fucking _don't_!" Ed nearly yelled, remembering just in time to keep his voice down. He glared at Mustang and thought, _Some things never change._

"Go home Mustang." Ed said before Roy could say anything. He turned around and left to circle around his apartment building at a swift run. Ed hoped Mustang wouldn't be enough of an idiot to follow him, and when Ed didn't hear footsteps behind him he relaxed.

Ed slowed to a walk as he approached the crumbling apartment building, and moved in the alley that was beside the building. Ed stepped carefully, avoiding the shards of broken beer bottles that would make too much noise for his taste. Ed had never been an expert in stealth, but he had learned a few tricks when the military had decided to chase after him.

Before he slipped around to the street below his bathroom's window Ed checked to make sure no one was there. It was almost eleven thirty at night, and the street didn't have any place that was open that late, but Ed felt it was better to make sure. No one was there, so he moved to stand directly below his bathroom's window.

Ed took a deep breath and slowly put his hands together before pressing them to the brick wall. The wall began to rearrange itself into a series of handholds with both holes and ledges. Aside from the bright white blue light of a transmutation there was nothing to mark that Ed was using alchemy, and even that faded quickly as Ed finished the transmutation.

Ed looked up at the path leading to his bathroom window and then began to climb. He moved with a well trained grace, scaling the building in a matter of seconds.

The bathroom window was harder, but once Ed had seen that there was no one inside the room he simply transmuted the glass into the window frame and pushed his body through the window feet first to land on the carpeted floor with a very gentle thump.

Ed prowled to the door, and waited. Ed knew soldiers; he had worked with them for four years of his life. He knew they were human, and that soon enough they would get bored and talk. He would get his information from that. Ed had learned some patience in the years he had been in the past. He could wait.

In only a few minutes the silence was broken by a knock on Ed's front door. Ed wondered if it was the soldiers' superior checking up on them, but a voice soon broke that theory.

"Hello?" Roy asked, and Ed wanted to punch him. Ed wondered how he ever survived into his twenties when he was obviously lacking common sense.

"Is Ed there?"

Ed gritted his teeth and wished Mustang would leave. Almost as if in direct opposition to his wishes, the doorknob clicked. And then the shot rang out.

Ed had kicked the bathroom door open before he could think it through, tackled the man standing in the kitchen before he could fire his gun and slammed the man's head against the floor as they both fell.

Scrambling off of the limp man's body Ed ran into the living room, ducking and rolling through the doorway. As he rolled his hands pressed together and when Ed slipped into a crouch he pressed them to the floor. The spike of wood that came out of it speared the soldier there with a sickening sound.

Ed jumped to his feet and moved to the side, his eyes searching for another soldier but finding none. He would have considered it a bluff, but the military had no idea how good he was in combat, all they knew was how good he was at breaking into places. Ed stopped looking for another soldier as he realized this, and straightened out of his half crouch to walk over to the entrance to his apartment.

He refused to look down, afraid that he would find another dead person at his feet, dead simply for knowing him.

"Ed." Roy said, and his voice was rough with pain but he was alive and Ed was kneeling on the floor before he could think.

"You _idiot_. You fucking moron." Ed whispered as he let a hand rest on Roy's shoulder. In the light from the hallway outside Ed could see that the bullet had entered Roy's side, and that his white shirt was soaked through with blood. The hazy thought that Roy looked good in red passed through Ed's mind and he knew he was panicking. Ed knew basic anatomy, but he wasn't a doctor and he couldn't tell if Roy would live or die. He knew there was too much blood, and that was all.

Ed growled, irritated with himself. Watching Roy bleed wasn't going to help him, and he knew no medical alchemy. Ed didn't think calling an ambulance was safe, since the military obviously knew where he was. That left one option.

Ed leaned down and slid Roy into his arms, ignoring the sounds of pain from Roy as he did so. One soft moan nearly made Ed drop him because there was so much pain in it, but he simply stopped for a second and then continued. He ended up carrying Roy with one arm around Roy's shoulders and the other beneath his knees. Roy weighed more than Ed was expecting, and he was suddenly grateful he had spent time doing heavy lifting for work.

Ed walked out of his door with Roy a heavy weight in his arms, heading for the nearest hospital. He could feel the warmth of Roy's blood as it trickled down his hand.


	5. Medical

_Author's Note: If I judge by all the reviews and alerts, I've been doing pretty well with this story. It's nice to know I haven't messed up the characters too badly, and I am thankful to everyone who has read this. Also, I still need a beta. Preferably one I can bounce plot points off of. Does anyone have a suggestion as to where I could find one?_

* * *

Roy dreamed that he was practicing fire alchemy. He could direct the fire with a wave of his hand, but suddenly he couldn't control it anymore and it was everywhere. He was burning.

Roy woke up with a slight gasp and found that one part of his dream was real: the pain. The left side of his body felt like it was just been burned and Roy wanted to scream, but he didn't have the strength. He had never felt so much pain before, the only thing that was even slightly comparable was when he was ten years old and broke his finger. Roy couldn't remember how he had gotten so badly hurt, or why, or anything at all really. His entire mind was focused on how much he hurt. He was on fire, he was in agony, and he couldn't do anything about it.

Roy whimpered, too far gone to even think about how pathetic he was acting.

"You're awake." a low, rough voice said, and Roy heard the sounds of someone moving around through his haze of pain.

"Here."

The rim of a cup was pushed to his lips and Roy drank the cool water before he thought about it. He hadn't realized how thirsty he was.

The cup was taken away when he finished, and Roy prayed that he could go back to sleep and not feel anymore. He felt his mind becoming fuzzy and happily welcomed it. Just before he fell asleep, when his body was mostly numbed, Roy wondered who the voice belonged to.

* * *

The second time Roy woke up the pain in his side had faded to an aching throb and being awake was more of a discomfort than the pure torture it had been before. He turned to look around and easily made the conclusion that he was in a hospital. The white bed, sheets, walls and floors allowed no other conclusion. In fact, the only spot of colour in the entire place was the chair pulled up beside his bed and the golden haired person on it. Roy felt a smile tugging at his lips as he realized that it was Ed on the chair and judging by the soft snoring, he was asleep.

Since Roy had nothing to do, and didn't want to try moving just yet, he studied Ed, carefully noting all details of his appearance. Strands of Ed's hair had fallen out of his ponytail, and there were shadows under his eyes. He was wearing the same clothes he had been wearing at Marcy's. Exactly the same, Roy knew, because he could see the bloodstains on Ed's green undershirt and his white gloves.

_He must not have left here at all after he brought me in,_ Roy thought, feeling slightly guilty. It wasn't really Ed's fault he had gotten shot. Roy hadn't listened to him, and Ed had made it clear that he was serious. Roy had grown up in the slums of Central with a brothel owner as his foster mother, and he knew better than to follow Ed. It was just that Ed had insulted him, and Roy was curious, and it couldn't hurt as long as he didn't stand directly in front of the door, right? Actually, Roy thought with a slight smile, not standing directly in front of the door was probably why he wasn't dead.

Satisfied that one mystery was cleared up, Roy closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

* * *

The third time Roy woke up it was because someone was trying to pick him up, and it hurt. Roy let out a protesting noise before opening his eyes and meeting clear golden ones.

"Be quiet." Ed commanded, looking unusually fierce. Roy was unnerved to find a hint of fear in his face. Even when Ed had known that his apartment was broken into he sounded more angry than afraid. If Ed wasn't afraid of that, then what would he be frightened of? The impractical part of Roy wanted to touch his face and ask what he was scared of, while the practical part of him simply didn't want to get shot again. His side flared as Ed pulled him further up and Roy's practical side quickly won. He could ask Ed about his fears later.

"I'll try." Roy said as he gritted his teeth.

Somehow, through Ed's strength Roy was on his feet in nothing more than a few moments. He felt awful.

"My side feels like someone stuck a knife in it, my entire body aches from sleeping for so long, I have to go to the bathroom, and I'm hungry, thirsty, and tired." Roy muttered under his breath, vaguely wishing he could just go back to sleep.

"Didn't think you were the complainer type." Ed said, giving him a bemused look, as though he couldn't figure out what there was for Roy to complain about.

Roy immediately felt childish and pathetic, and then wondered why. He had been shot just for taking someone on a date, and was now being dragged out of a hospital when he wasn't even healed, didn't he have a right to complain? Roy did, but he still _liked_ Ed, and didn't want to look weak to him. Roy was beginning to agree with his mother's statement that crushes were more trouble than they were worth.

At least, he was until Ed suggested he go to the bathroom while Ed got him a drink of water. The honest concern in his voice and manner was quietly soothing, and for a few seconds Roy forgot he was even injured.

Going to the bathroom took most of Roy's strength. He drank the water with a slightly shaking hand and wondered how long it would be before he simply passed out onto the floor.

"Here." Ed said, and turned so that his back was towards Roy.

"Ed?" Roy asked, wincing at the obvious uncertainty in his voice. He had meant only to sound questioning.

"Idiot. I'm going to carry you." Ed said. His voice was filled with impatience and something else that Roy couldn't place. Roy could almost see the slight frown tugging at his face.

"Piggyback?" Roy asked, finding it amusing. He hadn't been carried that way since he was a little kid and his 'sisters' thought he was cute.

"Well, yeah. Unless…unless it will hurt you?" Ed said, and his tone made it a question. He sounded young, and Roy remembered that he was only nineteen years old, no matter how mature and confident he sometimes seemed.

"No, I'll be fine." Roy lied. It would hurt, but he doubted Ed could find a way to fix it.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Ed said.

Roy didn't answer, instead choosing to put his arms loosely around Ed's neck. He was only about an inch and a half taller than Ed, and Ed's high ponytail brushed his cheek. Roy could feel the warmth of Ed's chest beneath his hands, and resisted the urge to move closer.

"Need to hold tighter than that." Ed said.

Roy knew that but – "Your ponytail is in the way."

Ed made a little sound that was half growl, half snarl, and reached around to yank the tie out of his hair. Roy watched the rich gold hair fall down on Ed's back and knew he had no more excuses. He tightened his arms until he had a firm grip and pressed closer to Ed, letting his head rest on Ed's shoulder. Ed smelled like blood, metal, and leather, and combined with Ed's own spicy scent it was calming.

For the first time Roy was grateful to his injury. If it hadn't been for his exhaustion and pain, Roy knew he wouldn't have been able to ignore the little voice whispering for him to kiss Ed's neck, let his hands drift down……

Roy felt Ed's body shift and was being carried before he really noticed it. It should have felt humiliating, but Roy just felt sleepy. He was tired, and Ed was warm, and if it hadn't been for the jolts of pain when Ed moved a certain way Roy thought he probably would have fallen asleep.

Roy couldn't remember much of the journey. He was drowsy, everything was dark, and most of his brain was paying more attention to Ed swearing under his breath than anything else.

When Ed walked down his street and into his house, Roy thought he was dreaming. How would Ed even know where he lived? Confused, Roy struggled to pull his head up and look around. It was definitely his house, because Roy remembered leaving that coffee cup on the table. But where was his mother? Before he could ponder it further, Ed twisted strangely, and let go of Roy's legs. Roy fell onto his couch, blinking and rubbing his hand across his face.

"Just go to sleep, Roy." Ed said softly.

Roy wanted to go to sleep, and it seemed like a good idea, but he was cold. It was mostly because he had gotten used to Ed's warmth and had lost it so suddenly.

"Cold." He murmured, nuzzling down into the couch pillow and feeling irritated when it didn't make him much warmer.

A warm blanket was pressed on top of him, and Roy gratefully pulled it closer, sighing in contentment when he felt warmer. It didn't take more than a few seconds after that for Roy slide into sleep.

* * *

Roy could feel that he was half awake, and wanted nothing more than to slip back into sleep. He curled his hand in his 'blanket' and the cool leather was smooth in his hand. Roy knew that wasn't right, but it took him a few moments to work out that Ed had given him his jacket for a blanket. Roy felt oddly touched.

Then he smelled food, and realized he was hungry. With a groan, Roy opened his eyes and sat up, letting Ed's jacket fall to one side of him.

From the couch he could see the kitchen, and Roy blinked to make sure of what he was seeing. Yes, it was Ed stirring the pot of soup in his kitchen. Ed was wearing a white buttoned shirt that Roy thought might have been his once and brown pants and white gloves. Roy had never seen him wear anything other than brown pants and he had never seen Ed with his gloves off, even when he ate. _Which,_ Roy decided as he stumbled into the kitchen to sit at the table, _was rather strange, actually._

"Here, soup. Doctor said you shouldn't eat anything hard to digest for a while." Ed said as he shoved a bowl of soup and a spoon in front of Roy's face. Roy's pondering on Ed's gloves quickly disappeared in the face of food. It was warm and surprsingly tasty. Roy tended to prefer soup with some spice to it, but he was grateful that the soup was only mildly flavourful. Roy didn't think he could handle that much so early after being shot.

Ten minutes later, Roy had eaten two bowls of soup and was feeling mostly satisfied and warm. This left his mind free to wonder about the many questions that had appeared in his life since Ed showed up.

"My mother?" Roy asked, because he could imagine what she had thought of some person she didn't know leaving her injured son on her couch and knew it wouldn't have been good.

Ed gave a rueful small smile and kept his eyes down as he replied that she had gone to work. Roy wondered what happened, but decided not to ask. He was impressed that Ed had managed to stay in his house. Most people couldn't stand strong against his mother; she tore excuses and lies into pieces.

There was silence until Ed broke it, his voice halting and low.

"Look, I'm sorry. I just…I shouldn't have…I'm sorry. Didn't mean for you to get hurt. I……sorry."

Ed's eyes were darkened to bronze, and his face looked pained. The hand that was clutching the table tightened. He looked as though he was a cornered wild animal, defeated and realizing he couldn't fight.

Suddenly all of the energy seemed to drain out of Ed and he let his head fall down and whispered one last 'sorry'.

Roy watched this with a forced blank face and distanced eyes. Part of Roy was grateful for the apology, part of him was insulted that Ed thought he had to apologize, but most of him just wondered how he cold turn this to his advantage.

"I accept your apology." Roy said, because he couldn't not. "Why is the military chasing you?"

Roy knew it was the best time to ask that question. Ed felt guilty and saw him as injured, and would be glad Roy had forgiven him. He watched as Ed seemed to debate telling him, and then gave a long sigh.

"I stole something from them." Ed said, and Roy knew that was all he was going to get. For now.

Roy smirked and asked, "Do we have any soup left?"

It was a completely unsubtle way of changing the conversation, and Roy hated using it, but the hesitant smile Ed gave him more than made up for it.


	6. Mother's Orders

_Author's Note: I'm sorry this is so late. First I hurt my hands in a bicycle accident, and then I had to cook for Mother's Day, and after that I went on a week and a half's vacation with no internet access. Rest assured, I have no intention of abadoning this story, but updates might get very random. The reason behind this is explained in my profile. Also, a new chapter will be up tomorrow._

* * *

Ed heard the woman that was Roy's mother opening the door to her house. He was grateful Roy wasn't awake, partly because Ed felt he needed more sleep, partly because he didn't want Roy to hear the argument that was about to happen, but mostly because whenever Ed saw the pain that Roy tried to hide he felt so guilty he couldn't breathe.

The woman who introduced had introduced herself as 'Chris Mustang' in the phone call made by the hospital stepped into the kitchen. As her dark eyes noticed Ed she drew in a deep breath.

"What are you doing in my house?" she hissed, moving forward to stand in front of Ed. Rich brown locks of hair fell over her shoulders as she crossed her arms.

Ed knew there was no reason to be afraid. The woman in front of him was plump, middle aged, and didn't even look intimidating. However, there was something in the tone of her voice that would have made anyone else other than Edward Elric cringe, and had him considering escape plans. Why had he stayed in the house after he had been told to leave?

"Looking after Roy." Ed answered honestly, meeting her eyes.

"I told you to stay away from my boy, dog." Chris spat, apparently becoming even more upset after this confession.

Ed's hands curled into fists, and he wondered if Roy had learned how to be a bastard from his mother. Ed hated being called a dog. It reminded him of his time in the military. Ed knew she thought he had something to do with the military, and that was why she had first used the name, but now Ed suspected she used it simply because she could tell he hated it.

"I don't have to listen to you." Ed said after a few seconds of seething, his voice forced low.

The look Chris gave him was pure venom, and she stalked out of the room. Ed guessed that she was checking that Roy was safe.

Ed let his head fall back upon the wall. Why was he insisting on staying here? Roy didn't need his help. But he had gotten Roy hurt and he didn't know how to make up for it. The question was though, why did he care? If it had been the older Roy, the Colonel, Ed wouldn't have cared much if he got Mustang hurt, as long as the man hadn't died. Ed might have tried to be on his best behaviour the next time he talked to the Colonel, but that was it. But then, this wasn't the bastard Colonel. This was Roy, who had fed him and talked to him about alchemy and didn't mock him all the time. Still, that didn't fit. Ed would have felt guilty about getting some nice person he had just met hurt, but he wouldn't stick around because of it, not when said person had a frightening mother who didn't want Ed around. Maybe he was just curious about the Colonel as a teenager?

Ed picked his head up just enough to let it fall back onto the wall with a slight thump, and immediately realized the answer. He was determined to stay with Roy until Roy recovered because he owed the older Mustang and this was the only way he could repay him. Sometimes, Ed wished he didn't have such a strong sense of debt, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it. Anytime he even thought of doing something that wasn't right he saw Al's ashamed face. Ed couldn't stand the thought of his little brother feeling ashamed of him.

"He's asleep." Chris said, startling Ed. Apparently being able to sneak up on him while he was thinking was genetic.

"Yeah, well, he needs his rest. He's hurt." Ed said, not really sure how to reply to the bland statement.

"Because of _you_." She replied, her tone icy cold.

Ed couldn't stop the flinch that came at those words. He tilted his head down so that his bangs covered his face and nodded instead of speaking.

"For the next month, you'll do whatever my boy asks of you. You'll cook for him, keep the house clean for him, everything. You'll find your own place to sleep, but it won't be in this house. And if you ever hurt my boy, in any way, I'll find what's most important to you and destroy it. Clear, dog?" Chris asked, her voice low and filled with hate. Her dark eyes were glimmering with a fierce light that said that she was deadly serious.

Ed had listened quietly without much feeling other than acceptance until the last few sentences. He could feel the hot determination rising in him when she threatened what was most important to him. _Al._

"Touch my little brother and I'll kill you." Ed snarled, fighting the urge to wrap his hands around her neck simply for the threat. She was Roy's mother, she was only trying to protect Roy, Ed had done the same thing for Al a thousand times, Al would be ashamed of him –

"Fine." Chris said, and walked away.

Ed blinked as his rage was dulled by surprise. What did she mean by that? It didn't seem likely that Chris was about to explain, so Ed decided it'd be best to simply ignore it. It wasn't his problem, and Ed had no interest in understanding Chris Mustang's thought processes.

* * *

Through the next month, Ed was almost happy. He had easily transmuted a place to sleep for himself not far away from Roy's house, and didn't particularly mind cooking or cleaning. Cleaning had never been his strong point, but his teacher had often used it as a punishment, and made Ed redo it if he had gotten it wrong, so he had gotten used to it. Cooking and alchemy were very alike in some respects, and Ed found that making sure he had the right ingredients in the right amounts was strangely calming.

What Ed had thought would be the worst part, looking after Roy, was actually the part of the month he liked best. It made up for all the dirty glares from Roy's mother and the irritating idea that Ed was following her orders.

First he'd change Roy's bandages, which never took long. Roy seemed thoroughly embarrassed about it, and said he could change his own bandages, but Ed found it amusing and never gave him a chance to do so. Ed wasn't sure why Roy was embarrassed at all; he would be, but he was mostly made up of automail and scars. Roy had smooth, creamy white skin that contrasted well with his dark hair and eyes.

After that was over with, Roy would talk to Ed. It was rarely about anything specific, but it was always interesting. Ed remembered hating the way Roy could make any sentence, however innocent, sound any way he liked. Now that it wasn't directed towards him, Ed found the way Roy mocked people amusing. When they talked about alchemy, Roy was never slow to grasp Ed's train of thought, and often pointed out small problems that hadn't occurred to Ed in his excitement with a new idea. Roy never acted as though he was jealous of Ed, or as though he was in awe of Ed, though he did subtly compliment Ed occasionally. Ed was impressed with Roy's own knowledge of politics and psychology, which seemed to be far beyond the average person's understanding. For the first time in almost three years, Ed didn't feel lonely.

Three weeks into the month, Ed tried to sort out his feelings about Roy. He knew they had changed, but he wasn't sure how.

He liked Roy.

It was hard to think of Roy and the Colonel as the same person.

He liked how Roy never had to be told that he didn't want to talk about something.

He didn't _want_ to think of Roy and the Colonel as the same person.

He liked how unknowingly idealistic Roy was.

He hoped Roy didn't join the military.

He liked how Roy was fiercely protective of his family.

He wanted to make sure Roy never joined the military.

He wanted……to protect Roy.

Ed knew he'd never have even thought about protecting the Colonel. The man could take care of himself, and there was a dark edge to him that suggested he'd already seen far too much to ever be called innocent. But while Roy wasn't exactly innocent, he wasn't so far down he couldn't be saved. Roy hadn't invented a kind of alchemy that was only useful for destruction, Roy didn't have anyone's blood on his hands, Roy hadn't been the puppet master for so long he'd forgotten how to be anything else. Roy liked fire alchemy because it was flashy, Roy wasn't sure that executing people should be legal, Roy was _human_, and Ed wanted to keep him that way. Roy didn't deserve the kind of life the Colonel had lived.

* * *

On twenty second day of the month (Ed had been absently counting the days) Roy was acting strange. Ed couldn't figure out why Roy stared at him as though he was somehow the answer to all of life's problems, or why the normally confident teenager was suddenly not meeting his eyes. Ed thought maybe it was because he was leaving soon except that it didn't make sense. Ed could understand how someone leaving could make another person upset or relived, but Roy was showing subtle signs of nervousness, and that didn't make sense at all. Ed had gotten sick of the mystery after the second time Roy avoided talking to him, and was determined to hunt Roy down and demand an answer when the doorbell rang, a soft chiming sound.

Ed was downstairs when he heard the noise, and he ran up the stairs and into Roy's bedroom as quickly and quietly as he could. Chris lived here so she would never ring the doorbell, which meant it was someone else. Ed didn't know if it was common knowledge he was staying at Roy's place, but his first thought had been to not be seen. It was safer that way. Ed had been going out of his way to avoid trouble since he had come back to the past. He didn't want people to start wondering who he was.

"What's going on?" Roy said quietly, a hint of impatience in his voice.

Ed started, and turned around to find Roy coming out from his closet with a blue shirt half buttoned up. Ed hadn't noticed Roy standing in the shadow of the closet door, away from his line of sight and being almost completely silent.

"Someone's at the door. Dunno who." Ed said, feeling that he should add something but not knowing what.

Roy frowned slightly and finished buttoning up his shirt. Ed gave a small smile to see that he didn't favour his left arm as he would have a week before. Roy's gunshot wound was healing cleaner that Ed's injuries ever had, probably, Ed knew, because Roy followed the doctor's orders of 'stay in bed' and 'clean and rebind the wound every day'.

"I'll go see who it is." Roy said, his voice and even his body language perfectly calm. If it wasn't for the slightest hint of confusion in his face, Ed would have thought this happened every day.

Roy gave him a slight nod and left the room.

Ed wondered what Roy would be like when he could stop anything from appearing on his face, and found himself disliking the idea of not knowing what Roy was feeling. Ed reminded himself that he was leaving in only a few days, but that only made him realize he was going to miss Roy. Ed scowled and tapped his gloved hand on Roy's bedpost. Roy had managed to somehow slide his way into the group of people Ed considered friends, and Ed wasn't sure he liked it.


	7. The Major

_Author's Note: Here's the chapter I promised yesterday. The next one will take a little more time, since I actually have to write it and I have a large amount of schoolwork to get done. Hopefully, this one isn't too sappy. And the ending isn't too abrupt._

* * *

For Roy, the last three weeks had been both difficult and interesting.

He had despised being so confined to bed, unable to do much of anything. Even when he was allowed out of bed, he wasn't allowed to do anything that could be considered strenuous. Roy would have simply ignored the doctor's orders except for the fact that both his mother and Ed wanted him to follow them, and Roy wasn't insane enough to go against the one thing they both agreed on. Roy had also had the problem of his mother's and Ed's 'disagreements'. They were generally quiet and short, but vicious. Roy wasn't sure if he should be grateful that they weren't bringing him into it. If they did, Roy would be pressured to choose sides. That they weren't probably meant his mother didn't consider him able to make choices in this situation and Ed just didn't care.

The weeks had been interesting only because of Ed. Each new thing Roy learned about Ed made him want to know more. Ed always wore gloves, but why? Ed came from a little town in the country near East City, but he wouldn't say which one. Ed knew more about alchemy than anyone Roy had ever met, but he refused to practice it professionally. Ed was a puzzle Roy couldn't understand, and desperately wanted to.

Ed also had many strange little habits that Roy wanted to know the story behind. Why didn't he ever drink milk? Why did he dislike cats? Why did he always cover every inch of his body except for his face in clothing?

Whenever Roy tried to ask about any of these things he got a blank look and a confused 'Why do you need to know that?' or worse, a pained look and a quiet 'Don't ask.'

To avoid either response, Roy tried to talk about general knowledge and ask for personal opinions. This seemed to work, as Ed wasn't hesitant in explaining his opinion on anything, though occasionally he wouldn't want to say why he had such an opinion. Roy was delighted to find that most of Ed's ideas about the government and religion matched his own, and the ones that didn't Ed enjoyed debating with him. At first Ed's blunt statement of facts and his dark sense of humor had shocked Roy, but within a few days he had gotten used to it and found it thoroughly amusing.

Through these talks, Roy had learned that Ed was strangely, but fiercely honorable, mostly open minded (Roy was glad to note that Ed had heard of two men being together romantically and didn't think it was particularly strange) and stubborn about a few things. Actually, Ed was simply stubborn in general. Roy found it entertaining to spend part of his day trying to convince Ed to do something he didn't want to. He learned that when determined to do something Ed didn't stop for anything, except the possibility of Roy or someone else getting hurt.

Roy had even wondered, while watching Ed try to clean a lamp, if this was what 'falling in love' was like. Roy had never really considered the possibility before because he couldn't even think of spending the rest of his life with anyone he had dated. Ed was different, simply because Roy could think about staying with him, and not flinch away from the very idea. Living with Ed, Roy was certain, would not make for a boring life. Roy knew that at the moment he only liked Ed, but he wanted to know if the possibility was there. Could he fall in love with Ed?

A clanging sound had distracted Roy from his thoughts and he turned to see Ed cursing the fallen lamp as though it had caused him personal injury. The urge to smile at the sight made Roy decide that yes, it was possible he could fall in love with Ed. Surprisingly, the idea wasn't particularly distasteful to him.

This realization had made Roy decide that he had to let Ed know of his feelings. While Ed seemed to like him, it was obviously only as a friend; Roy wasn't certain Ed had ever liked someone romantically, as Ed had never mentioned anyone he had dated and was clueless about any innocent social situation. Of course, that left the question of how to do it. Say something? Just kiss him? Roy's hormones voted for the second choice, but Roy wasn't sure. Roy wasn't really sure of anything, in fact, which he found irritating. He had been nervous before with someone he liked, but never so nervous. The worse Ed could do was say he couldn't like Roy romantically, and Roy had faced the idea of rejection before.

Roy had been trying to form some sort of plan when Ed entered his room looking worried. As Roy listened to Ed speak, he felt slightly relieved that he could stop thinking about his own new, strange problems with romance and go deal with the far less difficult problem of getting rid of whichever suspicious neighbor had rung the doorbell.

At least, Roy felt like that until he had opened the door. The three military blue uniforms on his 'visitors' made him want to shut the door and lock it behind him. Since slamming the door shut would probably be followed by the door being broken down, Roy opened the door a little wider and waited to see what the man in front, a major according to his uniform, would say.

"We are looking for a criminal. He is short and has blond hair, and appears to be in his early twenties. He goes by the name Ed." The major said, and with each word Roy felt the panic rise.

"I've never heard of or seen a man of that description." Roy said, trying desperately to keep his face calm. The suspicious looks on the soldiers' faces suggested that he wasn't succeeding.

Roy frantically searched his mind to find out what he was doing wrong. He wasn't acting how they had expected him to act. People either feared or admired the military, but they didn't calmly inform the military that what they were looking for wasn't there unless they were insanely brave. Roy knew he couldn't take back his earlier statement, but perhaps he could alter it slightly. Roy pushed back all of his thoughts and focused only on how he was about to act. He had to get every detail right, every movement had to be controlled. This wasn't new to him, but this time a mistake would result in Ed's capture, not his sisters amused laughter.

"Could I help you look for him?" Roy asked, letting his voice lift just a little in excitement. A beat afterward Roy made his cheeks flush a very light pink and shifted so that he could put his hand in his pocket. The suspicious looks on the soldiers' faces slid away, replaced by understanding. Roy knew that their thoughts had changed from 'It's strange he's so calm' to 'I see, he was trying to impress us.'

"Only if you join the army." The major replied, this time with a little smile. His body posture had relaxed.

"Mother says I am too young." Roy replied, letting a hint of disappointment enter his voice. He had once considered joining the army, and his mother had told him he was too young, It was always best to tell a portion of the truth instead of simply lying.

"You should listen to your mother. Wait a few years." The major said, and his voice was almost friendly now.

"I will." Roy said. "Are you informing everyone of this?"

"No, actually." The major said, and then tried to put on a serious face. "So don't go telling everyone about it. But if you hear of a blond man called Ed hanging around, even if you don't think it's him, tell us. I'm Major Simes, and if you can't contact me the two men with me are Sergeant Miles and Sergeant Hughes."

"Yes sir." Roy replied, surprised at how easily the words came to him. Roy had never liked being under someone else's control, so calling someone 'sir' would normally be difficult for him. Roy suspected the reason he was finding it so easy to throw off a blithe 'yes sir' was because he was manipulating the man and so it felt more like mockery than anything.

"Good man." The major said, and then smiled as Roy made himself straighten up and look proud. Roy watched as the man turned around and walked away, motioning for the two other soldiers to follow him. One did so without hesitation, but the other one, the one Major Simes had said was Sergeant Hughes, stopped to look back at Roy for a second. The sunlight glinted off of his glasses so that Roy couldn't see his eyes, but Roy remembered what they had looked like: a vivid, intelligent green.

As Hughes turned back to follow the other soldiers, Roy relaxed, letting a slight smirk curl his lips. He shut the door quietly, and turned around to tell Ed what had happened.

* * *

Ed didn't react quite like he expected.

"Bastard. Why'd you have to go and lie to them?" Ed asked after absorbing the story in silence.

"No expressions of gratitude?" Roy asked lightly, though he felt hurt. He had just lied to the army for Ed, something he thought he'd never have done for anyone other than family. Ed's angry response to his help stung.

"Why would I _thank_ you? You lied to the army, you moron." Ed spat, looking truly furious. The look suited him well, but Roy was too upset to care at the moment.

Roy resisted the impulse to say 'For you', and instead replaced it with, "Would you have preferred I told them you were here?"

"Yes!" Ed half shouted, before seeming to notice how confused Roy looked. "You idiot, I can deal with the military. You can't. You can't, and what do you think they're going to do once they've figured out you lied to them?"

"I imagine they'll invite me to join them." Roy said sarcastically, still hurt.

"You just don't fucking get it." Ed snarled, standing up and stepping towards Roy in one fluid motion.

Roy had never felt even the slightest bit frightened of Ed's temper before, but now, with Ed standing only a half a foot away from him, golden eyes blazing, hands clenched, it was hard not to be afraid. There was something wild in the lines of Ed's face and he seemed about five feet taller. Roy was surprised to find that the fear was almost thrilling, like walking on a balance beam and not knowing how far you would fall if you stumbled. The smile that appeared on Roy's face was completely unbidden, but Roy ignored his body's betrayal of his mind in favour of Ed's growl at the sight.

"Bastard. Fucking _bastard_." Ed hissed as he took another step forward. "This isn't funny, it isn't a fucking _game_."

Roy sucked in a deep breath, the exciting feeling of making Ed angry replaced with lust. Ed was so close Roy could feel the slight breeze when he exhaled. Roy's mind was telling him he had to get out of the situation, and quickly, because this really wasn't a good time to show Ed how much he liked him and he wasn't going to be able to avoid that much longer.

"What do you mean?" Roy asked, letting all of his confusion show on his face while trying to think about anything other than the fact that Ed was barely inches away from him.

"You really don't get it." Ed said, sounding slightly awed. He stepped backwards and sat on Roy's bed, looking up at him bewilderedly now.

Roy gave a silent sigh of relief as Ed moved away from him before shaking his head slightly in response to Ed's question.

"You really……you really just wanted to…protect me." Ed said, saying the words as though he expected Roy to contradict him at any time.

Roy wondered how it had taken Ed so long to come to that conclusion. Wasn't it obvious? Hadn't anyone ever tried to help him before? No, he wasn't going to start feeling sympathetic for the man who had yelled at him. He wasn't.

"Fuck, Roy, don't do that again." Ed said, sounding more upset than angry now.

"_Why?_" Roy asked. Why was Ed upset now, when Ed finally understood that he had been trying to protect him? What was so awful about that?

"'Cause you'll get hurt." Ed said, in a isn't-this-obvious tone. "I always get in trouble, I can handle it, but you're….you're Roy, and you don't have to –

"I wanted to." Roy said, gently cutting into Ed's ramblings. He had the satisfaction of seeing Ed look utterly confused for a few seconds and then blushing so red it seemed as though he was short of breath.

It only a few moments of listening to Ed's answer, Roy's mind had put together the reason Ed was so angry at him. Ed had been upset because Roy had put himself in danger for Ed's own protection. In other words, Ed was upset because Roy could have gotten hurt. It was rather sweet, actually, though Roy had to wonder how Ed had gotten the message that getting mad at someone was an acceptable way to express fear.

"Stop smiling." Ed huffed, then looked down and added, "Thanks."

_That,_ Roy thought, _really isn't the way to get me to stop smiling._


	8. Madness

_Author's Note: I'm very sorry this took so long, but first there were school finals and then I lost my laptop and now we're moving. Rest assured that I'm not abandoning this story, though updates may show up rarely this summer. I apologize for any review I haven't replied to; I can't remember which I answered and which I didn't. Next time I'll be sure to keep track. _

_I know this chapter's a little choppy, and I'm sorry._

* * *

It was hard for Ed to look at Roy now. The easy acceptance of his rage was rare, most people seemed to either fear him or hate him afterwards. It hadn't seemed to bother Roy at all. When Ed had asked Roy to pack some clothes and what he needed for traveling into a suitcase, Roy had only nodded. The trust in Roy's eyes made him look young, and made Ed feel like a liar. What had he done to deserve Roy's trust? The quiet obedience of someone who would grow up to be the Colonel was unnerving and didn't help with Ed's unsettled feeling at all.

Some things never changed, Ed realized as he came back from fetching his own suitcase to find Roy waiting on the couch for him, his face perfectly composed. Ed couldn't stop himself from reading the note on the coffee table, a short 'I have to go. I'll call when I can.' Roy knew he had to leave. Roy couldn't stay with the military looking for him, and neither could Ed.

"I guess I'll see you later." Ed offered as an awkward good bye. He wasn't sure what to say to Roy, once his superior officer, now his friend.

Roy smiled at him, but Ed could see the tightness in it, the fear in his eyes and suddenly he felt fiercely protective. This was his friend, this was _Roy_, who laughed at his jokes and who was as graceful as a full grown cat and insisted on cooking supper himself sometimes because 'you shouldn't always have to' but really because he just liked cooking, and Ed would _kill_ anyone who hurt him. He shouldn't be afraid.

"Don't." Ed said, not planning saying it or anything more, but Roy was looking at him with expectant eyes. "Worry. I…everything's okay."

"I'm not worried." Roy said, and face was perfectly blank as he added, "I'm going with you."

Ed took a few seconds to absorb that statement.

"What the hell?" Ed said a minute later, still thrown by Roy's causal declaration of joining him. "No you aren't, what do you – I don't – you're not coming. You're not coming."

"You know," Roy said, his body and voice a study in nonchalance. "I'm sure I heard somewhere that denial is unhealthy."

Ed glared at Roy, and wondered why he had ever thought that Roy wasn't like the Colonel. Obviously they were exactly the same.

"There's no fucking way you're coming with me." Ed said, shifting his body so that it would be easy to tackle Roy.

"Where else should I go?" Roy asked, looking at Ed in a way that made him want to run. There was far too much of the Colonel in that gaze, far too much of the man who had calmly plotted out how to use everyone best.

"Anywhere. Just not with me." Ed said, because he knew the kind of trouble he got into. There were days that Ed was convinced the Gate had somehow figured out the trick he had pulled on it and was trying to punish him for it.

"I can't stay in the city, because I don't know any place that wouldn't sell me out for money. My mother would know, but it wouldn't be safe for me to go visit her, or to wait here for her. I've never left the city before, and I don't want to take the risk that I'll do something wrong. You, however, have both left the city and have far more experience in avoiding military than I do. The safest thing for me to do would be to follow you." Roy stated calmly, listing off the points as though he was talking about what to make for supper.

Ed knew the argument Roy made was logical, but his instincts were still screaming that letting Roy go with him was a bad idea. There was another part of him though, that wanted to keep Roy close to him, because how could he make sure Roy was safe if Roy was hundreds of miles away from him?

"I guess." Ed mumbled, not liking the idea but also having nothing solid to protest it with. Roy would think he was insane if he started talking about how he always managed to find some sort of trouble, or think he went looking for it, which he didn't. Things just…happened.

Roy smirked, and Ed, just in that moment, hated him. All he had wanted from life was his family's safety and something interesting to do, but somehow he always ended up getting into things that had nothing to do with either goal.

"Shouldn't we be leaving?" Roy asked, breaking into Ed's thoughts. Ed glared at him on principle, and then stalked out of the room. He couldn't hear Roy's footsteps behind him, but there was no doubt in Ed's mind that Roy was following him.

* * *

The train station was dirty and crowded, filled with anxious people who wouldn't care if the world ended as long as they got where they were going. A woman dressed in an ugly brown coat shoved past Ed, dragging a little boy by his wrist. Ed frowned. He was used to being unbothered by people in train stations; the giant suit of armor beside him made almost everyone give him some space. He had gotten used to the shoving required to get onto a train when Al wasn't with him in the last few years, but he still always thought of Al when he was there. Ed hated train stations because they reminded him that while his life might be as close to perfect as it was probably ever going to get, he was alone.

"Ed?" questioned a quiet voice, and Ed remembered that he wasn't alone in this visit to the train station. He had someone to look after and something to do, and the thoughts of missing Al were quickly locked away.

"Yeah?" Ed asked gruffly, not bothering to wait for a response before adding, "It's easy to get lost here."

"I see." Roy said, a hint of something in his voice that Ed couldn't decipher.

"Yeah, okay." Ed replied because he didn't have time to waste figuring out what Roy was thinking. Ed dropped the old beaten up suitcase he was holding on the ground and then stepped on top of it. It made a cracking sound, but held his weight long enough for Ed to get a good glimpse of the station's layout. He stepped back down with a muted growl and snatched up his suitcase again only to pass it to Roy.

Roy took the suitcase, glancing down at it, and then turned to look at Ed with one eyebrow raised and a politely confused frown on his face.

"Go stand by the end of the cargo train. Anyone asks why you're there, I dunno, tell 'em that you're lost or something. You're good at lying, you can think of something. I'll be there in a few minutes." Ed said, thinking that somehow it made sense Roy was one of those people who could ask a question without actually saying anything. Ed had always hated those people, mostly because they were always smug about it and swore they were born with it. Al said he was just jealous, but then Al had been able to make a suit of armor look as if it was about to cry, so obviously he had mastered the questioning look himself and couldn't be trusted.

Roy nodded, and turned to walk away. Ed watched him disappear into the crowd and had a strange desire to run after him. It was stupid, because Ed was pretty certain that this Roy Mustang was just as good at landing on his feet as the other Roy Mustang was. Ed shook his head slightly and shoved through the crowd.

Half an hour later, Ed considered his diversion well set. The military was fucking stupid; no matter how many times they lost him in busy train stations by chasing false leads that he'd set, they had never realized that he used cargo trains to move around. Ed had to admit, as much as he had disliked Mustang and his men, they had never been that stupid.

Ed snorted, slid through a break between train cars, and froze. There was no one standing beside the cargo train. Scenarios run through his mind as he started to run. Roy had been caught by the military somehow. Roy had left. Roy had been run over by a train. Roy was perfectly safe aside from being lost in the train station. Roy was about to be run over by a train. And, overlaying all of those, Roy was shot and bleeding, dying. Ed stopped running when he could see the other side of the cargo train clearly. No one there either. Which meant, Roy was – where? Hurt, gone, lost, dead, waving to him from the end of a passenger train that had just started to move –

Ed blinked and had started running again before he could think. He had found Roy, there was no way he was going to let him leave, even if he was on a moving train.

Vaguely, over the sound of his heart beating and the uneven clunk of his feet on metal train tracks, Ed thought that Al would probably call this one of his insane ideas. Al would say that you couldn't catch a train by running after it, but he was getting closer now. Ed could see Roy's face, blank with surprise.

The train was moving faster and Ed realized that he had to move faster as well, and his whole body was burning and he couldn't seem to get enough air, but the end of the train was only two feet away.

Ed leapt, and his right hand caught the edge of the railing, and then slipped, and Ed felt a sharp fear of failing, and then his arm was caught and pulled up enough that he got a good enough grip on the railing to pull himself onto the platform.

For a few seconds Ed just stood there with his head titled back, panting and utterly pleased with himself. He _could_ catch a train by running after it.

"Ed?" Roy asked, and Ed pulled himself up to look at Roy and felt himself smile. He had been worried, but Roy was fine. His clothes weren't nearly as perfect as he liked them to be because the wind had pulled them out of place and he looked a little worried, but he was fine. Ed _grinned_ and while he normally found Roy's ability to look perfectly elegant in every situation annoying, then he was almost fond of the quirk.

"Yeah?" Ed asked, his voice still a little breathless.

"Why does your arm feel…?" Roy trailed off, seeming as though he was at a loss for words.

Ed froze, and belatedly realized that Roy had pulled him up on the train, that Roy had grabbed his right arm and he was only wearing a long sleeved shirt. It was impossible for him to have not noticed the automail.

Ed tried to explain, but every time he opened his mouth nothing would come out. Irritated with himself, Ed ripped the glove off his right hand and yanked up the shirt sleeve. Sunlight glinted off of the dull gray metal.

"I've heard of this." Came Roy's voice, soft than normal. "It's called automail, correct?"

"Yeah." Ed said, bracing himself for the question of how he had lost his arm, and the question of how he had managed to get the money to pay for automail.

Roy reached slowly, giving Ed plenty of time to move away. When Ed stayed still, he touched the automail gently, then slightly more firmly, running his hand down it and bending a finger. Ed could barely feel Roy hand on his, but it was calming. Few people reacted to automail as though it was just something to be vaguely curious of.

"I didn't even guess….you move so well. How far does it go?" Roy said, still quiet and asking one of the last questions Ed was expecting.

"All of my right arm, and…" Ed replied, trailing off and gesturing down with his hand to show how much of his left leg was metal.

"Hmm." Roy said. "Would you like to hear how I ended up on this train?"

"Yeah." Ed said, smiling as widely as he could and hoping that worked as a thank you because he didn't know how to say it.


	9. The Move

_I am not, as some may have suspected, dead. Neither will I give up on this fanfic. Apologies for the wait, and the simple fact that this chapter may seem a little abrupt._

* * *

Roy had to admit he had been shocked by Ed's automail. In fact, he still was shocked but he hid it carefully under a mask of light amusement as he explained how he had ended up on the end of a passenger train. It was an amusing story, involving an old lady's bossiness disguised as helpfulness and a little boy's nasty pet dog. However, Roy had long ago mastered the art of saying one thing while thinking about another. Even as he was explaining how he had jumped onto the train as it began to move Roy was wondering where this new piece of knowledge fit in the puzzle that was Ed.

After Roy finished his tale, which for all its interest was rather short, there was silence. Ed didn't appear to have anything to say, so Roy leaned on the railing and tried to think through the questions that had arisen when he saw Ed's automail.

The first and most interesting question was: how did Ed get enough money to pay for automail? Roy wasn't too curious as to how Ed lost his arm and leg since, after all, there were thousands of ways to do that. But automail was extremely expensive. Roy knew a man who had gotten an automail hand; he would probably be in debt for the rest of his life. That meant that either Ed had money, was running from a debt, or had the good fortune to have a mechanic give him automail for free. None of those made much sense. If Ed had money, why would he live in a shabby apartment in a bad part of town? And while it was possible that the reason the military chased Ed had to do with a debt it was also unlikely. Roy couldn't imagine the military getting involved in something that was minor and easily handled by the police. Besides, Ed didn't seem like the kind of man to run away from a debt. Ed could have gotten his automail for free, or in return for some alchemical help, but then why didn't he say that? Roy could understand Ed's defensiveness over the automail when he first saw it, as some people found what was essentially a machine attached to human flesh disgusting, but even after Roy had shown he didn't mind Ed's eyes were still wary.

_Obviously, Ed has a secret,_ Roy thought, _Actually, let me amend that; he seems to be made of secrets._

Roy glanced over at Ed, who was watching the sky with what Roy thought was a strangely sad expression. He wondered if he would ever learn what made Ed look so sad or anything important about the man at all.

_I don't even know his last name,_ Roy realized with a jolt of surprise. He couldn't remember ever being so fascinated by someone enough to forget common sense.

"What're you thinking?" Ed asked, interrupting Roy's thoughts.

Roy turned to find Ed watching him with partly narrowed golden eyes. It made him think of how his mother would look at him when she thought he was lying.

"I was thinking about how I don't even know your last name. I'm sure there's a reason for that, but I can't think what it is," Roy replied, choosing not to mention his thoughts about Ed's automail.

Ed shrugged.

"You never asked," he said.

Roy blinked slowly and let one hand fall to his side. After Roy's thoughts it seemed impossible that Ed had simply not mentioned his last name, that he wasn't trying to hide it, but Roy freely admitted that he sometimes saw patterns that weren't there.

"Well, I'm asking now. What is your full name?" Roy said, ready to backtrack quickly if he had to.

"Edward Elric. Ed," Ed replied without hesitation. His eyes met and held Roy's gaze.

"Thank you," Roy said softly, staring into brightly glittering gold eyes. In both intensity and colour they reminded him of the sun in wintertime.

He forced his own eyes away from Ed and slid one hand into his pocket. He hoped that Ed would ask anything about it, and was grateful when silence, as seemed to be normal, prevailed.

After a few moments Roy saw Ed shrug, and appear to collapse on the floor, and made a half movement towards him before realizing that Ed had fallen on purpose.

"Going to go to sleep," Ed told him, "That okay?"

"I think I'll live," Roy said with a dry sarcasm that he didn't really feel.

Ed made an amused snort at his words, and then closed his eyes.

_He isn't as interesting with his eyes closed; just another pretty face_, Roy thought, but even as he tried to convince himself that it was true another set of thoughts rose beneath it, whispering, 'But it's Ed, you can tell, no one else has that soft gold skin and dark gold hair, no one else looks just like that, no one else would be sprawled on the end of a train, it Ed's, and he's stunning.'

Roy groaned softly, careful of waking Ed. Even when he tried to feel neutral about Ed it didn't work, and that fact was bothering him. He had never taken any of his relationships seriously, mostly because he was young, and he knew it, and he saw no reason he shouldn't have fun.

Ed was different, which didn't really surprise Roy. He had long since given up expecting Ed to be the same as anyone else.

He looked back at Ed, who had slipped into what looked like a very uncomfortable position to Roy, and felt a smile tugging at his lips as he considered the idea of waking Ed up simply to see the surprise and confusion on his face.

As soon as the thought entered his mind Roy looked away.

_I can't even look at him without wanting_ -, Roy thought, cutting himself off and replacing his thought with another, _I have to do something about this. I can't – this can't be my life, liking Ed, who doesn't seem to notice me half the time._

After Roy had decided to do something he felt a little better, and dismissed his last thought as melodrama. Ed was important to him, but not his entire life.

_Now_, Roy thought, _what exactly should I do?_

_

* * *

_

As the train slowed down Roy glanced over at Ed to see that he was slowly waking up, and smiled. With the weight of the question of 'what to do about Edward Elric' off his mind, he felt surprisingly cheerful.

He took an easy step forward and crouched down in front of Ed, his face only about half a foot from Ed's own. Up close, he could see the faint scars on Ed's chin, eyebrow, and left cheek, and had his hand up to brush across one of them before he realized what he was doing. Ed's skin was smooth and strangely cold under his fingers, and Roy pulled his hand away quickly as he saw Ed's eyelids start to move. He didn't want to be caught being so – the only word he could think of was intimate – and besides that, he knew he should have touched the man in front of him without his permission.

Ed's eyes opened up, and Roy smiled at him, feeling half faded little daydreams of kissing him awake fade away. He knew better than to do such a thing, but it was always fun to imagine it.

"Pleasant dreams?" Roy asked, knowing very well that he was smirking. He had learned that it was rare to find Ed in a state other then complete self awareness, and intended to take advantage of what he could get.

"Shit, Colo – Roy," Ed said, standing up in an instant, "That was weird."

Roy followed suit, though not without a pang of sadness. He had quite liked the look of Ed sprawled out on the floor.

"Colo - ?" Roy questioned, his lips twisting into a wry smile. He couldn't think of any reason Ed would call him by something other than his name, and Roy knew that Ed hadn't thought he was someone else since he had seen the clear recognition in Ed's face.

"Nothing," Ed muttered, his voice sounding strange to Roy.

"You never tell me anything about you," Roy murmured, feeling oddly upset that another secret was being kept from him.

"Do too," Ed retorted, frowning, but not meeting Roy's eyes, "You know – about alchemy, and why I'm running from the military, and my automail."

"But you never _told_ me about those things, not really," Roy said, "I had to figure them out myself, or alternatively, manipulate you into telling me. I don't believe you've told me one thing about your life freely."

"I - you're too fucking good at that, you know?"Ed replied, taking a step away from Roy, "You look like….someone I used to know. That's all."

Roy doubted that truly was all, but the firm, final tone of Ed's words made him reluctant to say anything about it. He was surprised at his own ability in getting Ed to speak of something he didn't wish to, and decided in an instant not to press his luck.

"The train's almost stopped," Roy said, carefully keeping his face and voice blank, "Will we be getting off here?"

Ed nodded, and then offered Roy a half smile as though in apology, though Roy couldn't think what he would be apologizing for.

"Yeah, we're getting off here," Ed said, and Roy wondered why he felt the need to say something he had already indicated, "C'mon."

With that word and a few quick movements, Ed gracefully stepped up onto the railing on the train, one gloved hand pressed against the edge of the train. Roy had a second to see him in that pose, and then he leaped, landing easily on the gravel beside the train tracks a moment later. He gave Roy the carelessly tossed smile he always did after doing something reckless, and Roy thought, as he always did, that the look on his face was something that should be kept locked up in a treasure box.

That didn't make him feel all that much better about his choice of getting off the train the same way as Ed had done, or staying until it stopped and looking like a coward.

_Would I rather have physical injuries, or Edward Elric think me a coward?_ Roy asked himself, though he already knew the answer and hated himself for it.

Roy calmly stepped into the position Ed had abandoned only moments before, watching Ed's slight silhouette fade into the distance as he did so and remembering with a small smile how the man had chased the train. He knew, in some part of his mind, that he was only trying to avoid actually doing what he knew he was going to do, trying to pretend that nothing was going to happen to him.

He took a deep breath, and jumped.

Too quick, too cold air rushed past him, and for just a second he felt the pure joy of not knowing and then he hit the gravel. The train had slowed enough that Roy managed to land on his feet, and though he was shocked, he didn't fall over. He considered this a minor miracle that wasn't likely to happen again.

"Fuck, you do everything perfectly," Ed said, and Roy turned to see Ed standing beside him with his hands stuck in his pockets and a look on his face that Roy had never seen before.

"Of course; it comes of _being_ perfect," Roy teased, feeling a warm glow of pride at the blunt admiration in Ed's tone. It was almost worth doing something clearly insane for no rational reason.

"So…town's over there," Ed said, and he had taken only two steps towards the town in the distance when Roy caught his wrist in a gentle grip, making sure it was one Ed could easily break out of.

"I need to talk to you," Roy murmured, the words feeling oddly heavy on his tongue and coming out soft.

"Okay," Ed said, turning to face him, impatience in every line of his body, "Talk."

"I like you," Roy said, taking a few seconds to see what response he would get.

Ed only seemed confused, tilting his head to one side and looking as though if he simply thought through Roy's words enough he would understand them.

"In a way that isn't platonic. At all. In fact, it would probably be considered romantic," Roy said, searching Ed's face for any understanding and finding none.

_I hoped it wouldn't come to this…_Roy thought, though part of him had hoped it would, and had known it would. One thing he had learned after a month of seeing Ed every day was that anything that was remotely subtle didn't work on him. If he wanted Ed to understand him, he would have to be as blunt as possible.

He leaned forward slowly, still clasping Ed's wrist in his fingers, and kissed him. It was gentle; only a soft press of lips and leaving Roy with nothing more than the faintest remembrance of warmth.

Roy took a step back, released Ed, and waited to see the reaction.


	10. A Moment

_Author's Note: This took forever, I know, and I've no excuse. But I will say that I have no intention of letting this story go. On the topic of this chapter, I hope I've done a good job making Ed sound confused; I ended up confused by the end of it, so I'm not sure. Also, there are some reviewers who don't sign in and so I can't reply to them. I was thinking of replying to them at the end of the chapter next time. What do you think?_

* * *

Ed stared at the person in front of him, and registered dark eyes and dark hair and pale skin over delicate features and a shadowed, angled form, and put it together into the image of Roy.

The only thought that was in his mind was that it didn't make sense. Roy couldn't have kissed him; it didn't make _sense_. Roy was the Colonel, and the Colonel liked girls, and anyway Ed _knew_ the Colonel had never liked him, and why would anyone like him like that?

Roy was standing there, so perfectly still and silent to Ed, and he couldn't see though Roy's blank mask, he could only see a glimmer of something his eyes.

Ed breathed in and out, dropped his eyes to the ground and tried to think.

_He doesn't, he can't…actually care about me, like that_. Ed thought, sure of that one thing if nothing else, _Because the Colonel didn't, so he can't. _

Ed looked back up at Roy, and he looked so much like the Colonel that Ed couldn't see a difference between the two.

"Ed? Have you died from shock?" Roy asked, and Ed _knew_ that particular tone in that particular voice. It was the tone the Colonel used when he had just revealed the game he had played with Ed that mission, smug and touched with cold amusement at Ed's confusion.

"Fuck you," Ed snarled, torn between desperately wanting to break Roy's jaw and asking why Roy had decided to play such a cruel joke on him and what he had done wrong. He hadn't done anything wrong he knew – except he must have, for Roy to have hurt him like this. No, Roy hadn't hurt him, Roy couldn't hurt him, he_ didn't care about Roy Mustang._

"Ed, calm down," Roy said firmly.

It was exactly the wrong thing to say.

"Calm down?" Ed repeated in pure fury, glaring at Roy's face, which looked absurdly perfect and fragile, like a priceless cup made of china. The sight should have made Ed even more furious, but instead the familiarity of Roy's face made Ed feel like a child; angry about broken hope that he had no rational reason to think would be kept intact. Why would Roy care? He was bratty and he had ruined Roy's life, why would -?

Ed's fingers unclenched, and he let his head tilt down so that his bangs could cover his face.

Then he turned and ran.

It was easy to run. He didn't want to hear what Roy would say next, what his friend would say next, he just wanted to be gone, because in theory he could hurt Roy but in reality Ed knew he couldn't even try to, because it was _Roy_.

"Wait!" Roy called, his voice louder than normal, "Please!"

Ed didn't look back.

Ed stopped running when he got into the town. He stopped walking when he reached a little stone bridge on the outskirts of the town.

He folded his arms on the railing and looked down at the creek underneath the bridge, which didn't seem to be more than a few inches deep. He studied his bright yellow reflection that was blurred slightly by the slowly running water as though he could find answers to every question he had if he just looked hard enough.

_Should be someone beside me,_ Ed thought vaguely, _Al, or Winry, or…someone. Someone, there's always someone._

The feeling of being alone hit him with an almost physical force.

He hated being alone. Without anyone there to distract him, without anyone there for him to protect or talk to, Ed's own thoughts simply ran around and around in his mind, and they were never _happy_; the closest Ed got to happy was the simple satisfaction of sorting out an array. Without someone whose problems he had to fix, an obligation he couldn't shake off, Ed felt lost, an eleven year old in a train station calling the Colonel because he didn't know where to go. He was used to being bound by the chains of duty, of honour, of love, just chains, there were always chains and without them he didn't feel like Edward Elric.

Ed could never see the point of living if he didn't have anyone to live for.

And he hated, hated, hated being alone. It scared Ed even more than the Gate did, and it always had; he had risked his life to get Al back from it when he was ten just so that he wouldn't be alone in the world. After that, he had Al, and while trying to get Al's body back was hell, at least he wasn't alone, all alone in the dark. Ed still hadn't quite forgiven himself for being grateful his little brother was with him even when bad things happened, even when being with Ed meant that Al was incomplete.

Then he went back, and he was alone, and he hated it, but he didn't try to change it. Ed had long since decided that dragging anyone else into his life wasn't something he'd do again, since they always ended up hurt because of his mistakes. Part of him was almost happy about the second chance given to him by going back in time, where no one would know him, and part of him was just very, very lonely. He was selfish, he knew he was selfish, but he hated being alone, he didn't want to be alone, he didn't want to be back there lost in the dark and the blood.

_Probably why I put up with looking after Roy, that month_, Ed thought, not used to trying to figure out why he did what he did. He found instinct worked just as well as logic, and sometimes better. Logic hurt, it always hurt, because logically there was no reason for anyone to care about him, because logically he should just stay away from other people, it was the only way he could keep them safe. Except -

He leaned backward and slid his arms off the railing, making the decision he knew he was going to make ever since he had run, ever since he had known that Roy kissed him, ever since he had met Roy again, the Colonel who always managed to make Ed do whatever he wanted.

Ed walked into town, determinedly forcing himself to walk fast, it wasn't going to be any better if he waited; he knew that. And Roy could get hurt while he was gone, Roy wasn't the Colonel who controlled fire with a snap of his fingers, Roy wasn't the Colonel who could talk anything out of anyone if he wanted to, Roy was young and idealistic and so vulnerable that it made Ed want to put him in a concrete box so he'd be safe.

After a few moments Ed spotted him in the town, it wasn't that large of a town and besides, Roy stood out. Roy was just, just, Ed didn't know what, but he always got attention, no matter what he did, maybe it was because he was -

Ed cut that thought off, knowing his cheeks were flaming red though he couldn't see them.

Roy noticed him, Ed could tell because of that slight widening of dark eyes and the way he looked away quickly afterwards. Ed looked back, seeing Roy for the first time. He was coloured the heavy black Ed remembered from spending nights underground and a soft white that was exactly the same shade as the paper in the newer alchemy books Ed had read. Not the Colonel, Roy. And Ed still wanted to punch him, really.

He stomped over to Roy, and Roy met his gaze, looking as steady and as calm as he always did, as the Colonel always did.

"We're not, we're not goin' to talk about that. In the woods," Ed said, feeling as though he wanted to die or kill from embarrassment, "Okay."

"Ed, please, just give me a second –" Roy began, and he really did sound like he wanted, needed it, but Ed knew he couldn't handle whatever Roy said. He knew he needed _something_ from Roy, he wasn't sure what, but he knew Roy could ruin it with just a few words; Roy was good at that.

"How hard is it for you to just shut the hell up?" Ed hissed, wanting to hit Roy and to at the same time to hear what he wanted to say, just to know a little more about someone he clearly didn't understand.

"Not very hard, generally," Roy said quietly, as though his voice being softer would make Ed feel better, "But I need to know why you're so upset. Do you just not like me that way?"

Ed blushed, because didn't understand relationships, he didn't think he ever would, and if that wasn't bad enough he was talking about it with _Roy_, who clearly did understand.

"I – it's," Ed began, and then actually comprehended Roy's words and said, "Shit. You were…..serious?"

The idea was so strange that Ed felt physically uncomfortable. He didn't even think that maybe Roy, who wasn't the Colonel, who was nice, could mean it, because why would he? Ed wasn't the kind of person people liked, he was the kind of person people stared at and backed away from as though he was dangerous. Ed was dangerous, and he wasn't friendly or nice, and he wasn't like Al, and he _knew_ it.

"Of course I was," Roy said softly, and Ed can hear the faint hurt in his voice, can hear the 'how could you not know that' under his words.

"I - I don't," Ed said, "do this sorta stuff, I don't know -"

He wanted to run away again, from the confusion and the way Roy was so still, but he forced himself to take a deep breath and lifted his chin to meet Roy's eyes.

"I can't do that with you," Ed said as calmly as he could, "It isn't - I'm not good at that and you're my friend. That's it. Okay?"

"Fine," Roy replied, turning away from Ed to look over the town square.

Ed followed his gaze, but didn't see very much of the peple passing by or the dull gray store fronts. He scanned for something that could be a threat as he thought though, unable to turn that instinct off.

He wasn't sure if it was good Roy didn't sound hurt. It could mean Roy wasn't hurt, but it could mean Roy was just lying, and Ed didn't know which it was. He wasn't sure which he wanted it to be, not because he wanted Roy to care but because if he wasn't lying he was hurt, and Ed didn't want to hurt him, and if he wasn't lying then he was acting like the Colonel. Ed had decided Roy acting anything like the Colonel was bad when he first met him and wasn't about to change his mind.

Ed couldn't even make his own choice about being in some sort of relationship even if he wanted to, which he thought was unfair but he knew it was his fault. If he was less weird about people, if he didn't care so much when he got close, it'd be fine. But he did, which was why he had stayed far away from Al. He knew he'd tell Al everything if Al asked, everything about who he was and what he'd done and why, and no one else needed to know that. Ed didn't want anyone else to know what he did; he didn't even want to know what he did. And he would do anything for someone he loved, which was stupid, but he _would_, and so relationships were a bad idea. Espcially with someone he already liked.

Roy asked something, and Ed blinked and saw the place where he was for a moment. He figured it was probably a decent town since no one was screaming and there wasn't anyone staring at them.

"There's a hotel," Ed said, starting to walk towards it, "C'mon, we'll stay there until we get a job or something."


End file.
